Liverpool: Full Report Card for Every Position for October 2014

Two-and-a-half months into the new season, Liverpool find themselves looking to reclaim a lost identity and scrambling to get into their best form after a stuttering start to the 2014/15 campaign.

The Reds have had vastly different fortunes on the domestic and European fronts in October: In the Premier League, they’ve secured two wins (against West Bromwich Albion and Queens Park Rangers) and a draw (against Hull City), while in the Champions League they’ve succumbed to two losses with no reply against Basel and Real Madrid. Their last-minute win against Swansea City in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday rounds off an unbeaten month in domestic action.

Compared with our preseason report card for every position in the team, things certainly look a lot less promising. That Daniel Sturridge’s injury has probably had the most impact on Liverpool’s results shows the importance of a league-leading striker’s fitness, as well as Brendan Rodgers’ failure to address his side’s over-reliance on one talisman.

Here’s an updated report card looking at the month of October 2014 for Liverpool. Given Rodgers’ penchant for changing tactical systems, we will look less specifically across the midfield and forward lines—but we’ll be selecting our stand-out performers, as well as those who most need improvement.

Stand-out: None

Needs Improvement: Simon Mignolet

After a shaky start to the season that saw former Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes linked with a move to Anfield (per the Daily Mail) to challenge for the No. 1 slot at Liverpool, Simon Mignolet has improved during the month of October.

A few key saves were required to keep his team in the game until the death at QPR, while he also pulled off a few important stops to keep Cristiano Ronaldo and Co. at bay in the second half of the Champions League clash with Real Madrid, but Rodgers will be demanding more from his keeper.

Mignolet still has plenty of work to do to improve his distribution, aerial command and defensive organization—but an abject defensive unit ahead of him certainly doesn’t help.

Stand-out: None

Needs Improvement: Glen Johnson

Liverpool fans could be forgiven for having their mood dependent on who Rodgers fields at right-back these days. If it’s Javi Manquillo, then they find themselves looking at the positives and potential of the on-loan Atletico Madrid man.

But if it’s Glen Johnson, then the knives will be out and sharpened, and the Liverpool back four are doomed for eternity. Such is the contrast between their two options at right-back and the increasingly polarizing performance levels between Manquillo and Johnson.

It looks increasingly likely that Johnson will not be extending his contract at Anfield, and if his form continues in its current vein, few Reds fans will be shedding tears if and when he leaves the club. Manquillo offers a glimpse into the future—if Rodgers allows it.

Stand-out: None

Needs Improvement: Jose Enrique

For Alberto Moreno and Jose Enrique, see Manquillo and Johnson from the previous slide. For the most part, the excitement towards seeing Moreno in his swashbuckling form mirrors the sight of Manquillo’s defensive abilities, while Enrique’s lack of concentration recalls unpleasant memories of Johnson’s own vulnerabilities.

The silver lining on the left flank is, however, that Rodgers seems to have a firmer first-choice option at the position. Moreno has seemingly made the starting spot his own, with Enrique only coming in against Basel and QPR when Moreno was unavailable for selection.

If Manquillo and Moreno are the way forward—though they haven’t turned in any stand-out performances of note in October—then at least Rodgers has two fewer positions to worry about. But he has a massive task on his hands to fix his central defence. 

Stand-out: None

Needs Improvement: Martin Skrtel, Dejan Lovren

Seven goals conceded in four games, six of which—Ronaldo’s brilliant opener at Anfield aside—should arguably have been prevented: It’s a damning reflection of Martin Skrtel and Dejan Lovren’s partnership that their only silver lining from October was a second clean sheet in the entirety of the 2014/15 season so far.

Put simply, Skrtel and Lovren—who did score the last-minute winner against Swansea in the Capital One Cup—have failed their team thus far.

Without the firepower of Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge, Liverpool’s defence was always going to be their weakest point this season, but as a central-defensive pairing, they have successfully given textbook example after textbook example of comical schoolboy defending.

Plenty of positional errors, a glaring lack of communication, desperate last-ditch defending, all-out confusion and lack of coordination on set pieces: The only thing more shocking where Liverpool’s defence is concerned is Brendan Rodgers’ suggestion that a “lack of coaching time” is to blame, as reported by James Pearce in the Liverpool Echo.

Stand-out: Emre Can

Needs Improvement: Steven Gerrard

Besides a continuously bemusing defence, Rodgers has also been making increasingly curious decisions where his midfield is concerned, particularly in the holding midfield role, where a 34-year-old Steven Gerrard is still playing three 90-minute games a week.

If it weren’t for Emre Can’s exciting displays after his return from injury against Real Madrid and Hull, Gerrard’s performances would not have merited a B- grade for the holding midfield position—and even then, Can appears much more suited to a box-to-box, midfield-runner role a la Manchester City’s Yaya Toure, than Gerrard’s holding playmaker position.

More curious still is Rodgers’ steadfast refusal to give Gerrard any resting time—bar the Capital One Cup tie against Middlesbrough in September, Gerrard has started and completed every game of the Reds’ season thus far—and his decision to bench Jordan Henderson instead of the captain.

In reaction to opposition midfields that are physical enough to overpower Gerrard’s one-man statuesque holding area—and there are many of those now—Rodgers has started to rotate Gerrard’s position and deploy him as a more advanced attacking player, but until he starts managing his captain’s playing time, the Liverpool midfield will continue to harm their defence. 

Stand-out: None

Needs Improvement: Jordan Henderson

It’s a reflection of the increased expectations on Jordan Henderson after his promotion to vice-captain that after an otherwise encouraging opening two months, he is the central midfielder who needs further improvement.

A vice-captain of a club with top-four aspirations and one of the most promising midfielders in the Premier League simply can’t do the business on the domestic front only (and Henderson was benched from the start against Hull too). His failure to impose his game in both of Liverpool’s Champions League matches in October leaves much to be desired.

Henderson did score the winning goal against West Brom, and with Joe Allen and Can’s returns, Liverpool’s central midfield looks to have more options in the coming months—a welcome respite for Rodgers.

Stand-out: Philippe Coutinho, Raheem Sterling

Needs Improvement: Lazar Markovic

Without question, the attacking midfield line has been Liverpool’s standout position in the month of October. All three of Liverpool’s goals scored were from the midfield, while they also forced QPR’s two own goals.

It's not a good reflection on the rest of the team, but where the attacking midfield is concerned, Rodgers will be hoping that Philippe Coutinho and Raheem Sterling continue to influence and change games for the better, and that Adam Lallana will do his part on the goalscoring front, as he broke his duck against West Brom.

The sole big disappointment has been Lazar Markovic, who has failed to make any sort of impact for Liverpool since his big-money summer move, and who has looked completely out of depth in his Champions League cameos. Like his fellow strikers, Markovic needs a massive boost in confidence and form. 

Stand-out: None

Needs Improvement: Mario Balotelli, Rickie Lambert

Not only have Mario Balotelli and Rickie Lambert combined to contribute just the solitary goal in October, but they haven’t done so for Liverpool in the Premier League in the opening two-and-a-half months. Balotelli’s last goal before his League Cup equalizer was against Ludogorets mid-September.

That in itself paints the story of Liverpool’s struggles this season. Last year they had an all-star strike force to rely on, a superstar attack that spearheaded a 101-goal Premier League campaign, while this season they have regressed to the pre-Rodgers era of stunning profligacy.

Sturridge’s injury continues to cast a shadow over the season and the club, and Balotelli and Lambert need to open their accounts soon, but there may be two other culprits who need to ask themselves a few questions as well.

Fabio Borini would do well to reflect on why and how he hasn’t made the 18-man matchday squad for most of October even in Liverpool’s dire situation, while Brendan Rodgers himself should be reviewing clear evidence that a two-man strike force in a 4-4-2 diamond formation brings out both the best in his strikers and in his team.

A crucial November lies ahead.

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